The socioeconomic (SE) rights protections in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (the Constitution) have been used with varying degrees of success to improve the lives of poor people. Whether enforced directly to advance rights claims or to challenge unjustifiable legislation, or indirectly as part of statutory interpretation, these rights have shown significant potential as tools for the advancement of a pro-poor social justice agenda. But their limits have also been exposed as some judicial officers have struggled to give meaning to competing claims for limited state resources and others have seemingly succumbed – whether consciously or otherwise – to indirect political pressure and problematic arguments regarding the appropriate role for an unelected judiciary.

This chapter begins with an introduction to South Africa's legal system, focusing on the supremacy of the Constitution and the manner in and the extent to which it addresses SE rights. In so doing, it starts by briefly tracking the legal and political developments that resulted in a transition from white minority rule to a democratic post-apartheid constitutional state. Thereafter, it contextualizes the SE rights protections in the Constitution, detailing how they relate to each other as well as other key provisions in the Bill of Rights. In particular, the chapter explains that the Constitution's approach to SE rights is – in conceptual terms – largely indistinguishable from the manner in which it addresses civil and political rights.